Ernest J. Gaines (b. 1933) is a world renowned novelist, short story writer, and teacher. Ernest J. Gaines is among the most widely read and highly respected contemporary authors of African American fiction. He was born in Pointe Coupee Parish in Louisiana and at age fifteen, Gaines moved to California, joining his mother and stepfather there, because his Louisiana parish had no high school for African Americans. After graduating high school and serving in the Army, Gaines enrolled in San Francisco State University where he began publishing in the university’s quarterly literary journal. These stories secured him a place in Stanford University’s graduate program for creative writing. After leaving Stanford, he settled in the San Francisco area. In 1981, he accepted the position of Writer-in-Residence (Visiting) here at the University of Louisiana at Lafayette (University of Southwestern Louisiana at the time). Not long into his tenure, he published A Gathering of Old Men (1983) which was also adapted for television. 1993 saw the publication of A Lesson Before Dying, which was adapted for television in 1999 and is one of his most critically acclaimed novels. Before retiring in 2004, Dr. Gaines won numerous awards including the Louisiana Humanist of the Year and a MacArthur Foundation Fellowship in 1993. In 2000, he was awarded the National Humanities Medal and was made a Chevalier (Knight) of the French Order of Arts and Letters.